


The Lies We Want to Believe

by WaneMoose



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaneMoose/pseuds/WaneMoose
Summary: Twilight is more than a little annoyed after Discord ruins an event she had spent months planning to establish herself as a legitimate princess to the other leaders in Equestria. Frustrated after constantly being at the end of his creative lessons on friendship, Twilight vents to Fluttershy  who tries to calm her down and understand both sides of the situation. When confronted by Fluttershy, Discord thinks he has centuries to apologize to Twilight because she is an alicorn. No one else seems to want to admit that Twilight's status as an alicorn might make her immortal, not even Twilight.Note: Takes place sometime after S5 E22 "What About Discord?". Wrote this awhile ago but never posted it. It seemed fitting now.





	The Lies We Want to Believe

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place sometime after S5 E22 "What About Discord?". Wrote this awhile ago but never posted it. It seemed fitting now.

“You would _think_ forgiving him for betraying Equestria and joining Tirek would be enough, but no. No, of course not! I’m just being a bad friend. I don’t understand enough about friendship. These are all just lessons for _my_ sake. I don’t accept him as he is. It’s all _my fault_.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle was pacing back and forth in one of the many many spacious halls of her castle. The sound of her hooves echoed off the dark walls, swallowed by the immensity. No matter how she decorated, no matter how many personal touches she and her friends put on this place, it still felt oppressively big and undeniably empty. The castle at Canterlot was a true castle, one that housed hundreds. Twilight had read a book on the art of running a castle (in fact she had read three books on the subject). A castle could be a town all in itself; it needed cooks, guards, servers, and more planning and thought than even she could accomplish on her own and attend to her other duties. Ponyville was small, and even if she moved the entire town into her castle, it still may not be enough.

She was still adapting to the place, but in times like this she hated it more than ever. She had enough room that she never had to reshelve her books unless she wanted to. She could devote entire rooms to certain topics. She could have multiple copies to ensure she had perfect organization. Princess Twilight Sparkle could have all the books she ever wanted, but even thoughts of expanding her library to an entire wing devoted to books and learning did not comfort her today.

She had spent _months_ planning this. She had nearly used every favor, and now owed dozens more. She would be busy for the next few months just paying those favors back! All of it to get the castle ready, to get it _perfect _for the delegation she had hosted. No longer would she be the _other_ princess--the one who waved as the real princesses discussed the state of Equestria with its other leaders. It had taken incredible effort to get them here, and it had been her chance to prove to them that she was not simply Celestia’s prized pupil, but the Princess of Friendship. The duke and duchess from Maretonia, Duke Silversaddle from Appleloosa, and others from around Equestria had agreed to humor her (possibly as a favor to Celestia, but Twilight would take what she could get!).

Everything had been amazing. She had planned for every possible scenario. She had researched each of the delegates to the point where she might know them better than their closest friends did. Their favorite foods, their preferred times to rest, what direction they most enjoyed their windows in, the ways to flatter them, what they respected, what they found humorous, the relationships they had with each other, who to keep at a distance from who. She had enlisted the help of all her friends, and a great deal of Ponyville.

All of it, all her planning, all her contingencies, her strategy, all the time she spent thinking/dreading/wishing for this day, and it was all for nothing. 

“Oh Twilight, I don’t think he—” Fluttershy began hesitantly, softly as she always did.

Lilac wings flared, and a hoof stamped down antagonistically on crystal floors. The accompanying echo made the yellow pegasus shrink back slightly. She continued to wilt until Twilight forced her wings down and shook her head roughly.

“He did.” Twilight forced her tone down from its angry high pitch. Fluttershy did not deserve to bear the brunt of this outburst, but anger was the only thing left after so much of herself was put into this disaster. The pegasus was a good friend—that Twilight knew. The others had left to try and reign in the damage, but Fluttershy had remained so that Twilight Sparkle could not completely fall apart, even if she wanted to right now. “He did. He meant to do this, Fluttershy. It wasn’t an accident! This wasn’t just _an accident_.”

“I know he can be….difficult, but he really is our friend.” Fluttershy was as calm as ever.

It would be easy to stampede over her, to raise her voice until the shy pegasus shrunk back and gave up. Then again, when it came to her friends, Fluttershy could surprise everyone with her passion. Sometimes, Twilight wondered if she understood more about friendship than any of them. After all, she had ‘reformed’ Discord and that insufferable spirit of chaos actually cared about her. Fluttershy had literally performed the impossible with only kindness. Twilight supposed she should not be too greedy with the miracles that came her way. Today was not a good day, and thus she was a little hard pressed to find any sort of humility or gratefulness.

“He’s _your_ friend.” Twilight snorted, continuing to pace because the alternative was using magic in unsafe ways. “And maybe the others, as _weird_ as that sounds.”

She knew she had acted…well she did not know that friendship _could_ have a dark side! At its essence, Twilight believed it was a pure incorruptible thing. Discord had proven her wrong. There was resentment and jealousy bound up in the goodness. She had to thank him for teaching that lesson in one of the most humiliating and painful ways possible; as he always did.

He’s never been _my _friend. It’s much more fun for him to drive me CRAZY!”

Her wings had flared out again, and to relieve some tension she flew back and forth through the vaulted ceilings of the room. Fluttershy looked up as the agitated alicorn flew in circles, faster and faster until she landed so hard she thought she heard stone crack. The pegasus flinched slightly, but held her ground.

“All he’s interested in is tormenting me. Oh no, it wasn’t enough to pretend to be sick when Cadence was here. It wasn’t enough having the superest best weekend with my friends without me and rubbing it in my face. It wasn’t enough—”

“Twilight…I don’t think he’s being intentionally mean. I know he’s a little…difficult, but he’s not malicious.”

“What do you call this?!” She raised a hoof and motioned towards the castle.

“He…um…he probably wanted to be invited…I know it wasn’t right, but…”

Discord had been bugging the six of them and Spike relentlessly for his own chair around the map of Equestria. Twilight, of course, had been the most resistant. It would be like giving the Spirit of Chaos and open invitation to her house—and she knew him well enough that he would take advantage of it! He already popped into reality whenever the mood struck him. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she gave him his own place here, however small.

“Oh he wanted to be invited! That makes it all right!” The princess said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Th-That’s….not what I m-meant…”

Twilight shook her head, taking a deep breath and letting it out. Even Cadence’s technique was not working for her.

“Sorry Fluttershy, maybe you better go. I’m not being a good friend. I’m just…mad, and taking it out on you. It’s unfair.”

There was another lesson she learned. Wouldn’t Princess Celestia be so proud? Petty Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship taking out her anger on the friends who were more likely to put up with her crap.

“I..It’s o-okay Twilight. I understand.” Perfectly compassionate, sympathizing Fluttershy said.

Maybe Twilight became princess because she had the _most_ to learn about friendship. Maybe it was a joke—one big cosmic joke from Princess Celestia and her strange, trolling sense of humor.

“No, no. It’s not okay.” With a great sigh, Twilight felt most of her anger leave her as she took a deep breath and released it. A great heavy stone replaced it. It was worse than the anger, and now solitude was all she could bear at the moment. “I’m sorry…can I just be alone for a bit?”

“Are you sure? I can stay here and—”

“I’m sure. I just need some time to cool down.” She reassured, smiling at her meek friend. “Maybe sleep.”

The pegasus gave her a soft half-smile at that. They had been lecturing her for days that she had not been getting enough sleep.

“Yes, that is a GREAT idea!” Fluttershy beamed. “Get some rest and I’ll come back and make sure you have something to eat.”

Twilight forced another smile and nodded. It was only when Fluttershy was gone did she wander aimlessly back to the place she slept, and collapsed in a heap on her bed. Spike would be back soon, and then maybe she could badmouth Discord all she wanted to him.

_Oh, what a great friend you are._ She belittled herself. _No wonder he acts the way he does_.

  
Was there a lesson here somewhere? As Princess of Friendship, she had to believe that everyone could become friends…but what if that was untrue? What if some people just couldn’t?

Twilight groaned and stretched out her wings as she crossed her hooves in front of her and glared at the walls of her room.

~*~

“Did you _see_ their faces?” The Spirit of Chaos flitted around, teleporting on top of a table, then in the doorway, then floating above an agitated Angel-bunny.

The tiny wings on his serpentine body only fluttered, and yet he reminded suspended in air like a wind tunnel held him up. Angel-bunny held on for his life, but the force of Discord’s wings (not affecting anything else in Fluttershy’s cottage) knocked him over and into a cushion. Fluttershy quickly went to collect him gently, but he slapped off her attempts to help and glowered at Discord. She tried not to let this offend her. As gentle and giving as she was with her favorite animal, he never seemed to appreciate it…at least in a way that was obvious. Discord and Angel did not get along. That had been obvious from the first day she invited him to stay with her and he had (literally) turned her place upside down.

“I haven’t had such a good rollicking laugh since—” He wiped a tear from his eye and he continued to laugh with more gusto than when they had all those inside jokes with everyone but Twilight.

He laughed some more and then collapsed backward to be caught be a magically appearing fainting-couch that looked suspiciously like one of Rarity’s. Fluttershy might have to return that later.

“D…Discord, I can see why you think it was funny—”

“Funny? It was _hilarious!_” He launched into another fit of giggles. This time it was so great that he broke into a couple dozen smaller Discords who were all rolling on the couch or floor laughing until Fluttershy took a tentative step forward. He resolidified into one regular sized Spirit of Chaos, holding his stomach and grinning from horn to horn.

“Discord,” Fluttershy put as much strength in her voice as she could, calling back on the lessons she had learned from the Minotaur. Even if it had turned her into a monster, she still found it helpful in some situations.

She now had Discord’s attention and brief continuity as he remained static without any magical gimmicks. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then released it. Discord was a good enough friend that she could speak to him frankly, but even standing up to her closest friends could be difficult for someone like her.

“Twilight was really upset about what happened.” She said as gently as possible, meeting his slightly askew red and yellow eyes. She hoped she could find an apology there, maybe sympathy…she would even take confusion and ignorance! If he had no idea how his actions affected her, then she could explain it and hopefully that was that.

Discord was silent, staring blankly at her like she was speaking another language. Fluttershy cleared her throat slightly and tried to find something on his strange face.

“She worked super hard to make everything perfect to meet the delegates. As a new princess, she’s not as respected or acknowledged as the others and she wanted to change that…this summit was about trying to inform the leaders of Equestria about the power of friendship and what they can do in their own provinces to—”

“You seem to know a lot about it.” Discord commented. “Might I guess that Twilight _specifically _asked for your help then?”

“Well, yes, of course!” Fluttershy beamed. “She asked for everyone’s help.”

“_Did_ she?” Discord raised an eyebrow.

When that was not obviously, he drew an eyebrow in the space above his head and poked at it until it floated to the ceiling.

“Discord…did you want to help?” Fluttershy began hesitantly, compassion radiating from her voice as she raised a hoof out to him.

“No!” He crossed his arms and looked away. “But it is nice to be _asked_…so then I can see her face when I say _no_.”

“Discord…” Fluttershy’s wings which had perked earlier now fell to her sides. She sighed and sat on the couch next to him. “I can understand having some fun…and maybe you were a _teensy_ upset about not being asked to help.”

“I wasn’t!”

“A teensy bit,” Fluttershy reiterated “but she was really upset…maybe you should apologize.”

“And how emotionally distraught was she?” Discord smirked at his friend. “On a scale of one to ten, was she crying again?”

He imitated Twilight crying, as he had done when she took the alicorn potion. Fluttershy sighed once more, and shook her head. Discord obviously was not in the mood to have a real conversation. Then again, when it involved Twilight he was usually at his most unsympathetic. Sure, Twilight was the least trusting, but she was also the one Discord antagonized the most! It was a vicious cycle.

“She seemed more angry than hurt…” Fluttershy indulged the Spirit of Chaos.

“Was she like this?” He conjured the image of Twilight’s head on his body and began to imitate her in an unflattering way.

“So you’re not going to apologize?” The pegasus was not as patient with his antics today.

Twilight really seemed upset. Even more so than normal when Discord was involved.

“Apologize?!” He seemed scandalized by this, his face appearing with a puff of smoke but he had adopted the signature indigo and pink striped mane for his own, and he had overly large purple alicorn wings now.

He floated off the ground, flapping his purple wings so that Angel and the other critters were nearly blow out a window.

“I made her shin-dig _entertaining_!” He defended himself. “I brought some ZING into it! Some pep! Some life!”

“You t-turned the Duchess of Maretonia into a hydra…”

“To be fair, she had the temperament of one…and I think it was an improvement!”

“You made all the apples scream whenever someone bit into one.”

“Oh Fluttershy, do you not know that plants experience pain as well? I’m shocked_, shocked_ at your callousness!”

“You made anyone who entered the conference room fall into another dimension…”

“That…well that was just for my amusement.” He admitted, literally patting himself on the back for these achievements.

“Then when Twilight tried to fix everything with her magic, you made it worse! And everyone thought it was her fault!!!”

As Fluttershy laid down offense after offense, she felt herself getting angry as well. When she listed them out, it seemed way worse than before! Or maybe it was Discord’s laughter.

“Discord!” She stamped her hoof and gave him a serious look. It was not the ‘stare’ but perhaps half a stare.

“Oh hush hush,” He waved her off, Twilight’s alicorn wings disappearing but he kept the mane. “I will apologize eventually. I mean, I still haven’t apologized to Celestia for what I did to Equestria a millennium ago…”

“So you’re going to wait _years_ to apologize to Twilight?!” She gasped.

“Years? Puh-lease!” Discord laughed and the pegasus sighed in relief. “I’m thinking centuries. That’s pretty generous, and that’s only because we’re…” He raised his paws to make air quotes which appeared in golden magnificence before disappearing into a shower of golden sparkles “…friends”.

“Centuries?!” Fluttershy backed up a few steps. “D…Discord, you do know ponies don’t live that long…”

The spirit of chaos stopped all his gimmicks and looked at her in that way that always unsettled her; it was the look of someone who had been alive longer than she could even fathom. It was the look of someone who saw her as some briefly entertaining speck of dust. It was in that look that she realized just how weird their friendship really was, and how grateful she was for it.

“Of _course_ I know that, dearest Fluttershy.” He said lowly (as if considering her brief life).

“Then how can you wait centuries to apologize to her?”

His eyes became calculating then, but a brief tinge of confusion and then offense crossed through them. He moved differently now, pacing back and forth like a sinuous predator. Each motion smooth and practiced over years upon years. He stopped as she continued to silently demand something from him. 

“She’s an alicorn.” He finally said after coming to some sort of decision that she could not fathom.

He called into being a chalkboard that floated in front of him, and he pointed at the green surface with a large stick and a picture of an alicorn appeared and began to prance around the board. It pranced for a bit, then cast a few spells before trying to fly out of the board and splattering itself against an invisible pane and turning into a white smear and chalk dust. Discord coughed then waved the chalk board away as if it had no more substance than mist.

“Ooooh no!” Fluttershy smiled indulgently. “She’s not like Princess Celestia, Discord. She’s not a true alicorn. She will have a normal lifespan just like a normal unicorn.”

Discord shook his head agitatedly as if trying to decide whether to coddle her or not.

“And how do you know that?”

“She told me, of course.” She replied with infinite patience. Maybe she could have been a teacher if she had never found those critters.

_“Did_ she?” He put a huge emphasis on the first word, obviously disbelieving.

“Yes, she told all of us. She asked Princess Celestia who assured her that she was not going to live forever…and it’s true! Princess Cadence has aged!”

“Of course she has!”

Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed in confusion and she cocked her head at her friend. What was he getting at?

“Perhaps Twilight isn’t such a good friend after all, dear Fluttershy…if she is keeping such important secrets from you…she doesn’t trust you with the truth.”

“Now…that’s too far Discord. Don’t turn this around on her. This is about what you did.” She said with just the tiniest bite in her tone.

“Oh poor Fluttershy…” He petted her gently on the head before she could object. “So naive…do not worry, I shall have a _talk_ with Twilight about this.”

“Discord, wait—”

But he was already gone.

~*~

“_Prrrrrincess_ Twilight!” He held onto the first syllable of Princess overly long and the end was cut short with a slight hiss like a snake.

Discord, Spirit of Chaos, unable to wake the sleeping alicorn with his voice, conjured a pair of large cymbals and then crashed them in front of her while a bucket of water overturned over her. The pony came to with an uncharacteristic shriek, her wings catching in the sheets. She struggled in wet, ringing agony before she ended up splayed on the floor, water dripping from her mane as violet eyes locked on the draconequus that seemed well-pleased with himself. Standing up with all the dignity she could muster, her eyes narrowed into thin purple slits as Discord’s laughter washed over her. It lacked true mirth, however, or at least the mirth he peddled when they were not alone.

“Get out.” She ordered.

“Oh my, I think the pressures and dignities of royalty have gone to her most precious head!” Discord mocked, creating a familiar golden scepter with her head on it and then whacking her on the head with it.

Twilight used her magic to levitate the golden thing and send it hurling into the wall. If it were anything but stone, the scepter might have remained embedded. Instead, it clattered to the ground while Discord crossed his arms.

“Now, now. Is that any way to treat a _friend_?” He demanded.

“Friend?!”

“Do not say anything you may regret, _Princess_ Twilight Sparkle.” Discord reminded. “You are the Princess of Friendship after all.”

She made a particularly rude snort, but she remained still and tense—ready to teleport or summon other magic at a moment’s notice. This was not the first time Discord had invited himself over, and she was in no mood to humor him!

“As a _friend_,” each word burned her mouth as it exited her clenched jaw “I would _appreciate it _if you came back later so I can _sleep_.”

“No can do, your highness! This is an emergency.” Discord waved off her carefully crafted words and made himself at home in the bed she had formerly been sleeping on.

He poked the pillows hesitantly before lounging comfortably, pulling the cover Twilight had formerly been covered in and magically wringing it out over her head. Another deluge of water fell over the alicorn, her sopping mane falling in front of her eyes. She remained drenched for a few seconds before standing taller and raising her wings.

“You know, for a princess you could do _so much better_. What is the thread count of this travesty of a bedsheet?”

“Discord!” She found herself yelling.

This was finally enough to wake Spike from his deep sleep. He came barreling into her room calling her name, or at least he tried to until Discord snapped. A stone wall with a rather impressive mural of himself on it appeared just in time for Spike to smack head first into it. Twilight could hear Spike’s voice call to her from the other side, and then a _whoosh_ of fire as he tried to burn through the barrier. It was ineffective.

“Oh, do express my regrets to your pet. I thought it best if we spoke alone.”

“Spike is not a pet!”

“Once more with _feeling_.” Discord rolled his eyes. “The lady doth protest too much!”

“So are you here to drive me INSANE, or do you have another purpose here!?” She felt herself twitch.

She wanted to summon every magic she knew--every spell, every bit of alicorn power she possessed and rain it down on him with wrathful vengeance. She knew, however, that Discord would bat it all away like her spells were butterflies. Maybe the others could forget how powerful he was, what he had done to all of them (how he could literally touch them and bring out the worst in them) but she had never forgotten. She could never forget just what he was capable of. Even alicorn magic was not much of a match for him…and Discord had a strange definition (or at least incomplete) definition of friendship. If she broke that trust…well she was not as naively trusting or hopeful as Fluttershy. 

“Well I could…I really _could _force you into insanity, Princess Twilight Sparkle. It would be so easy, the seeds are there. All they need is a little nudge…”

Sometimes she believed he was capable of reading thoughts. 

“Are you threatening me?” She met his gaze fearlessly.

“Moi? Oh nooo…no my dearest Princess.” He mocked hurt and threw himself back against the pillows in dramatic agony. “I’m just here on behalf of your so called friends.”

Whatever she had been expecting, this was not it. She took a step back, theories and fears all colliding into a whirlwind of anxiety. They were afraid of her, they resented her, she had asked too much of them, she was not appreciative of them, they—

“You’re _lying_ to them. I never thought you were a liar. I know Celestia likes to plot and scheme as she pleases for the good of Equestria, but you…”

Even from the bed, with the covers drawn up and his feet sticking out the end with over-sized mismatched socks, he managed to look scary, and maybe disappointed.

“Illusions are _my_ thing, Princess Twilight.” All the amusement vanished from his voice, and she took a nervous step back. “So I know one when I see one. Lying to yourself? Lying to Equestria…sure, fine. Lying to _them_? That I did not think you were capable of.”

“What?!” She shook her head, rage quickly replacing the confusion.

Spike’s stringent calls, muffled through the wall silenced. She wondered if he had gone for help, or perhaps a wrecking ball!

Discord did not like her question. He appeared in a flash in front of her, grabbing her by her snout with his eagle claw. She tried to shake him off, but his neck curled so she was staring straight into the eyes of Chaos. She did not look away. She glowered, her magic activating at the threat. Several books she kept around for light reading went flying into the draconequus, but with a snap of his free hand they transformed into a shower of flower petals that wilted to dust as they fell. Twilight tried to object (those were her favorite books!) but his claw was a steel trap around her mouth. It was far less gentle than the lion’s paw.

“You are _lying_ to them about your immortality.” He accused. “And I may know little about friendship, but I can _imagine_ how betrayed Fluttershy might feel because of this LIE.”

Her eyes told a story, so he let her mouth go and she wriggled it a bit before speaking.

“What are you talking about? I’m not immortal, and I’m not _lying_ to them. I’ve never lied to them! Which is more than I can say for you.”

“Not immortal? Really, _Prrrrincess_. Are you trying to sell me that garbage too? Me?! Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, older than you can even begin to dream of, who has seen everything on this world and others you cannot even imagine, and you think I do not see it--_feel _it?”

Twilight looked at her wings briefly and then at the clearly angry Discord. She had never seen him like this, not even as her enemy. Even more than his meddling when Cadence was here, this felt personal. It felt like he was angry…emotionally _affected by_ something she did. It did not make sense. This was briefly enough to latch onto, to at least push her own rage away so she could educate him.

“I am not a _real_ alicorn, Discord. Celestia may have helped me become one, but I am not immortal. I will never have the power she has. She explained this to me from the very beginning. I would never want to outlive my friends and family. Besides, I doubt even Celestia could grant immortality!”

“Lies and more lies. Do you truly believe this?! Have you cast a spell to muddle your supposedly superior intellect?”

“It’s the truth!” She stomped her hoof for emphasis. “And I can prove it. Princess Cadence was made an Alicorn and she has aged normally. It is the same for me!”

“Princess Cadence!” Discord dismissed with particular distaste. “Do you think you can trick me with that red herring?”

He produced a rather large red fish and threw it at her. She barely managed to dodge it.

“That mark on your rump, that cutie mark…explain why it’s on the Tree of Harmony then. A tree that has existed almost as long as I have, tell me why!”

“I…I don’t…that’s just…” She backpedaled.

“Do not tell me the great, scholarly _Prrrrincess_ Twilight Sparkle has not at least wondered why her cutie mark is smack dab in the middle of the TREE OF HARMONY?! I know you are not that much of an idiot, and _don__’t_ take that as a compliment! This is an inquisition!”

Discord transformed into three versions of himself in red costumes and put on a spectacle, and like usual she could not place what he was referencing. When she showed no reaction to this, in a flash he was back to his dragon-like form. His body seemed longer than usual as slithered around her. She spun to meet his face, but she was still caught in his serpentine circles.

“The only other symbols on that tree are Celestia and Luna’s!” Discord continued his accusations. “Not Cadence’s, not any other ‘fake’ alicorn.”

“That…my…my c-cutie mark…that just might be a symbol for magic, and so my cutie mark is a representation of magic and…”

“A _six_ pointed star?! Really?! With all the magical cutie marks you have seen, you are using this paltry excuse?”

“I’m _not!__” _She found herself losing control, feeling something prick at the corner of her eyes. “Celestia _told_ me. She told me I wasn’t. I asked from the beginning and she TOLD ME!”

“Puh-lease…as if I’m supposed to believe you are ignorant of all of this! As if you cannot _feel_ it in your very bones. Time is _different _for immortals, it is experienced _differently.__”_

“This joke has gone too far, Discord.” She warned, her horn lightning up with lavender power.

He cocked his head at her, as if expecting her to attack him. She did not, instead she directed her power at the wall. With one incredible flash and rumbling she had blown a hole clean through it. She turned her back on the spirit of Chaos and walked through, but he erected another wall to stop her. She whirled around, snorting ungracefully like a bull and tossing her wet mane back. Perhaps she could charge him and impale him…well that was unlikely but the thought was nice. Or maybe if she had all the alicorn magic in Equestria again she would be an adequate match. Tirek had made short work of him, after all.

“Do you _think_ Celestia would trust all the alicorn magic to a ‘fake’ alicorn?” He seemed to read her mind again.

“I was an unknown princess, she—”

“Oh, _please_.” He rolled his eyes. “Did that buy them a minute? Five? And tell me this, how could a ‘fake’ alicorn contain all that magic?”

“I don’t…I, my cutie mark…element of magic…”

She shook her head in frustration, tears building up at the corners of her eyes and wanting nothing more than to escape whatever this was.

“She told me.” She finally settled on, and it was her only defense for these questions. Sometimes logic and science did not explain everything. She had learned that the hard way with Pinkie Pie and her inexplicable Pinkie Sense. What she never doubted was Celestia’s word.

“And dear Celestia would never lie…” He rolled his eyes, literally taking them out of his head and throwing them on the ground like marbles. Once they stopped, they gave her a particularly judgmental look before appearing back in his head.

Twilight stood her ground, despite the emotions. Here was the petty cruelty that Fluttershy never believed of him. Even after the incident at the Grand Galloping Gala, she never believed he was capable of this.

“Don’t you _feel_ it, Twilight?” He slithered up closer to her. “The days without sleep, losing track of time, moments where you pause to briefly study a flower, a cloud, and you realize hours have passed? Sleeping for days without being able to wake, the way magic doesn’t _feel_ the same. At times it is easy to access, and others it is inscrutable as if you are for once realizing the true incredible scope of it, the way food doesn’t seem to taste the same, or sate you the same. Tell me, why else would a pony have a dragon as a pet? Did the other initiates at the academy keep the dragons they hatched?”

She shook her head over and over, her entire body shaking.

“Losing track of old friends for months…years…and unable to truly process why this was so offensive. You can’t fathom why a long weekend to sort books was such a big deal, and then your sheer jealousy at the joy they had without you…because you know things are changing, and in the blink of an eye they will be _gone_. You might find yourself studying the nature of magic and find years have passed…and it is but moments to you while your friends deteriorate before your eyes.”

She could not hold back the tears now, even if she did not understand them. He was a liar. From the moment she met him he had been playing with her mind, this was just…worse. Targeting what she knew of reality, making her doubt herself and mostly Celestia as he had made her doubt friendship itself.

Discord continued on his tirade, but she was beyond fully comprehending it. All her mental effort was focused on stopping herself from crying in front of him. He went on for what could have been seconds or hours, but eventually he tired of the sound of his voice (or simply her lack of response) and he looked at her in that ‘in the moment’ way that was so rare.

“You didn’t know?” He laughed, but the mirth was sucked from it quickly, either by his lack of receptive audience or maybe some tiny spec of kindness Fluttershy had instilled in him.

She looked at the floor, memorizing every line. When that did not work in pushing her emotions away, she recalled her multiplication tables, then a list of prime numbers, then reciting all the digits of a certain mathematical constant. She was a hundred digits in before she finally felt strong enough to look at the Spirit who had long gone silent.

“Celestia told me.” She repeated, embedding herself into this one statement and closing her eyes and ears to anything else. All the evidence in the world could be thrown against her and she would respond with that statement.

“Twilight…”

Not Princess Twilight, not anything meant to mock her new status or her as a pony.

“You’re wrong, Discord.” She latched onto her illogical faith, something she might have been frustrated at or condescending of in other ponies. “I know Celestia would not lie to me. I know it.”

“You can’t bury your head in the sand forever.”

She waited for some gimmick, but he remained in his present form, simply meeting her gaze.

“Maybe you can for years…perhaps you can pretend not to notice as Applejack becomes slower, as the backbreaking work finally catches up to her, or Rainbow Dash cannot fly as fast, or Pinkie Pie cannot eat the foods she loves anymore without consequences, or Rarity cannot appreciate the younger generation’s fashion…or caring for all those critters finally becomes too much for Fluttershy. You can stay in denial until their manes gray and their faces sag, and their coats have lost all hope of luster. You can pretend you are just like them even if you have not aged a day. Perhaps even then…but when they die, and they will _die_, you will never be the same. You will no longer be this Twilight Sparkle, perhaps not ever again.”

She stood her ground, obstinate and hating Discord in this moment more than she ever had.

“Then perhaps you will confront your precious, perfect Celestia about what she has done to you—what great gift she has burdened you with for the good of Equestria…or perhaps the good of Celestia herself.”

“You’re wrong.” She snarled.

“We’ll see, won’t we?”

With that, he was finally gone and the wall dissolved into a flood of water to soak her once more.


End file.
